Car-seal.



C. H. BULL.

' GAR SEAL.

APPLIOATION FILED 11,111.20, 1900.

1,003,980. 1 Patented Sept.26,1911.

Fig.1- I I v I 4 mil Em H a 1' I' l l ll I 5 's 1; 4 Fi .2.

rU-lw W/T/VESSES o the same.

UNITED STATES PA ENT OFFICE.

CHARLES HENRY BULL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAB-SEAL.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, CHARLES HENRY BULL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seals, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use Thisinvention relates to sealing devices and more particularly to' devicesof this character adapted to be used for sealing doors of freight carsand the like.

One of the objects is to provide a device of this character which maybequickly attached inposition and positively locked to prevent its beingremoved therefrom.

Another object is to provide a device which its construction and cheapand which will be highly to manufacture, eflicient in use.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed outhereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope ofthe application of which will be indicated in the fol- .35 vice asapplied to'the the device showing the looping 5 tegral with one another,

lowing claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown one of various possibleembodiments of the invention, Figure 1 represents the defastening of adoor; Fig. 2 is a plan'view of the device before having a sleeve formedthereon; Fig. 3' is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of member locked within thesleeve; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5'-5 of Fig. 4.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews.

5 Referring now to Fig. 2 of the drawing, 1

indicates a looping portion having one of its ends united to a sleeveportion 2, the width of the latter being at least double that of theformer, whereby it may be folded upon itself to form a sleeve withinwhich the free end of the loopingportion may be inserted in the mannerhereinafter described. As shown in this figure the portions 1 and 2,which are preferably formed from sheet metal, are inbeing preferablyformed froma single piece of metal, but it- Specification of LettersPatent. Application filed March 20, 1909. Serial no. 484,655.

Patented Sept. 26, 1911.

will, of course, beunderstood that they may be made separate from oneanother and united in any suitable manner although the integralconstruction possesses many advantages. The sleeve portion is providedwith suit-able retaining means comprising, in

the embodiment shown tongues 3 and 4 preferably struck-up from the metalof which the portion is composed. The tongue 3 which is the moreremotely positioned from the looping portion 2 is bent back to extendbeneath the tongue 4 with the under side of which it is held in contactowing to the resiliency of" the metal as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Inthepreferred form,.a plurality of pairs of tongues are provided inalinement with one another and with the looping member 1 as shown inFig. 2. Intermediate the ends of the looping member 1 are pairs ofperforations 5 and (5 spaced from one another to form a locking strip 7adapted to interlock with the locking tongues as hereinafter described.Preferably, the looping member is provided with a plurality of thesestrips, as shown in Fig. 2, any one of which is adapted to interlockwith any one oft-he pairs of locking tongues formed in the sleeveportion.

After the parts have been formed as above described, the sleeve portion2 is bent or folded upon itself to form a sleeve 8, with the lockingtongues lying within the opening thereof, and is retained in its foldedcondition in' any suitable manner, as, for example, by applying solderto the free edge thereof as indicated at 9 in Fig. 5.

The method of use of the device, which should be largely obvious fromthe above description, is as follows :\Vhen it is desired to apply theseal, the hasp 10 which, by way of illustration, is shown mounted upon adoor 11, is first placed in looking osition with its associated sta )le12, which is shown' secured to the door rame 13, extending through theopening 14. The looping member 1 is then inserted through the staple andhasp and bent to form a loop 15 and its free end is inserted within theopening in the sleeve 8 through which it may pass freely, the strips 7passing over the tongues to movement in this direction. The 100 )ingmember is then moved in the opposite direction with respect to thesleeve, which movement will cause one of the locking strips 7 to passbeneath one of the overlapping 4 which offer no obstruction tongues 4,as indicated in Fig.4, the co-acting tongue 3, on account of itsresiliency,

springing back into its normal position to effectually lock the strip inposition and -prevent the removalof the looping'meinber After the partsare thus I j to the sleeve that loops of varidus sizes may be formed toaccommodate staples orother similar devices of various sizes, due'i'tothe fact that each locking strip is adapted to co-act with each pair oftongues. r

It will be seen. from the above description that this device maybe,quickly at tached and effectually locked in its operative position,and that it will be impossible to remove the same after ithas been thuslocked without destroying the seal. Hide sired, after the seal has beenaffixed, asshown in Fig. 1, the portion of the locking member whichextends beyond theouter end of the sleeve may be cut ed as shown in saidfigure. hen the car has reached its destination, it is merely necessaryto cut the loop in order to release the hasp to enable the door to beopened. 7

While the seal is shown and described as being applied to the latch of adoor, it will, of course, be understood that it may be employed inconnection with other looking or fastening devices when it is desired toprevent access by unauthorized persons.

-As' many changes could be made in the 'above construction and manyapparently Widely different embodiments of this invention could be madeWithout departing from the scope-thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingsshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limit-ing sense. Itrisalso to be understood that the 'langnage used in the following .claimsis" intended to cover all of the generic an'd specific features of theinvention herein describ d and all statements of the scope of theinvention, which, as a matter of langua'ge, might be said tov falltherebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class combination, a sleeve, a looping memberintegrally united. thereto and adapted to be bent into a loop andinserted within said. sleeve, said sleeve having means forretainmg saidmember therein in any one of a described, in

plurality of positions whereby loops of ditferent sizes may be formedthereby.

In a device of the class described, in combination, a sleeve providedwith a plurality of retaining means, and alooping member integrallyunited to said sleeve and adapted to be bent into a loop and insertedwithin said sleeve, said member being provided with means adapted toengage an one of said retaining means to retain said member in any oneof a plurality of positions.

3. In a device of the class described, in combination, a sleeve providedwith a plurality of retaining means, and a looping member united to saidsleeve andadapted to be bent into a loop and inserted within within saidsleeve, said member being pro vided with a plurality of means any one otWhichis adapted to engage any one of said retaining means to retain saidmember in,

any one of a plurality of positions.

4. A seal comprising in a single piece of sheet metal, a sleeve open atboth ends; a'

plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed coacting tongues struck upfrom the metal of the seal within the sleeve, the free end of one ofsaid tongues overlapping the free end of the other; and a looping memberadapted to be bent into a loop and passed through said sleeve, saidlooping member being providedwith locking members adapted to passbetween the ends of any one of said pairs of overlapping tongues toretain the looping member against further movement in the sleeve. i

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sleeve openat both ends and provided with a pair of retaining members struck upfrom the material of which the sleeve is composed, one of said members Ibeingbent back into engagement with the other of said members; and alooping member united to said sleeve and adapted to be bent into a loopand inserted through the sleeve, said member being provided with aseries of latching perforations whereby it is adapted to engage theretaining members in adjust-able relation.

6. A seal comprising in a single piece of sheet 1netal,-a sleeve; aplurality of pairs of oppositely disposed-coacting tongues formed withinthe sleeve, said pairs of tongues bein alined longitudinally withrespect to said sleeve, the .free end of one of said tongues overlappingthe free end of the other; and a looping member adapted tobe bent into aloop and passed through said sleeve; said looping member being. providedwith a locking member adapted. to pass between the overlapping ends "ofany one of said pairs of tonguesto interlock therewith to retain saidlooping member in position.

- 7. In a device of the classdescribed, in combination, a sleeveprovided with a plubeing rality of pairs of oppositely disposed eoactingtongues, said pairs of tongues being alinedlongitudinally with respectto said sleeve, the free end of one of said tongues overlapping the freeend of the other, and a loopmg member united to said sleeve and adaptedto be bent into aloop and inserted within said sleeve, said loopingmember provided with a plurality of alined locklng strips any one ofwhich is adapted to pass between the overlapping ends of any one of saidpairs of tongues to interlock therewith, to retain said member inposition.

8. A seal comprising in a single piece of sheet metal, a relativelynarrow looping portion having a series of latching perforations; anenlarged portion at one extremity of the 100 mg portion, said enlargedportion being olded about itself to form'a sleeve closed at the sidesand open at the ends to permit passage of the looping portion; and

a pair of oppositely disposed overlapping tongues struck up from themetal of the seal Within the sleeve and concealed by the at the sidesand open at the ends to permit the passage of the looping portion; and aplurality of pairs of'overlapping tongues struck up from the metal ofthe seal within the sleeve, the tongues of each pair projecting towardeach other and each pair of tongues being adapted individually to enterperforations 1n the looping ortion.

" In testimony whereo I a x my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES HENRY BULL. Witnesses WM. G. WARREN, A. W. WOODRUFF.

Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

